While affiliate marketing is a great way to earn some extra income, there are several pitfalls you need to watch out for. For as long as people have been earning money, people have been trying to figure out how to earn more by doing less. Now don't get me wrong if I could sit at home with my family, go on vacations, purchase anything that we desired, all while never having to put in a day's work. But the fact is real life does not work that way. I heard a really cool quote once, it said "the only place you will find success preceding work, is in the dictionary". The statement holds so true.

Just do a search online for "work form home jobs" or "making money". You will find millions and millions of web sites. Just click on a few. They almost all start off the same. You see a guy standing by some six figure car. The car is in the driveway of some ten thousand square foot house. Then the caption: This Could Be You. They are filled with promises of wealth, houses and cars. You name it. All you have to do is sign up for their program, which of course is the only one of its kind (yeah right) and the world is yours. Give me a break!

The only way to earn a good, reliable, stable, income online is to put in the hard work. You need to do your research before joining any affiliate program. That's why we have the internet, for finding information. All you need to do is search for the name of an affiliate program that you are interested in plus the word scam. See what comes up. Also join some work at home forums. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

There are a few tell tail signs that a program is most likely a scam. Here are a few things that I always watch out for. If a program will not tell you what their compensation plan is unless you pay to sign up, watch out. Many programs won't even tell you what you are going to be doing until you buy the 39 dollar kit. There should always be 100% free disclosure. You need to know what you are getting into before you start. Look at it this way. You go on a job interview and they don't tell you how they will pay you or what you will be doing. Do you take the job? No way.

There needs to be a way to do the program for free. It's fine if there are different levels of entry. I see it all the time. There should always be a way for you to earn without having to pay the program a cent. You may spend some money on advertising online, but you should not have to pay to market someone else's products. You shouldn't even have to buy the products if you don't want to. You don't pay your boss to work for him do you?